


Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound

by Kizmet



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Episode: S01e13 Take Me Back to Hell, Episode: S04e10 Da New King of Hell, F/M, Hurt No Comfort, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) is Bad at Feelings, Lucifer Morningstar (Lucifer TV) is Trying, hell loops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:09:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24652870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kizmet/pseuds/Kizmet
Summary: In “Take me Back to Hell” Amenadiel didn’t discover his conscience until too late.  The consequences are severe.
Relationships: Chloe Decker/Lucifer Morningstar
Comments: 12
Kudos: 71





	Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw a theory about S5 revealing that Lucifer died back in S1 and everything since has been a Hell Loop. This is my take on that.
> 
> Title comes from the Hank Williams Jr. song of the same name.

“So, Charlie is back with Linda and Amenadiel. So,” Chloe said, hope hiding in her voice. “You know, it’s over.”

_I have to do this. I have to leave. For her._

“Isn’t it? Is it over?”

“I’d say yes, Detective, but I’d be lying. And…” _If I stay, it will only get worse._ “We both know I don’t do that. Tonight we won, but we just plugged one hole in a very flimsy boat.” _If I leave now, she’ll understand. She’ll get over it._ “And now the demons know I’ve no intention of returning, they'll continue to defy me.” _I’d stay here, with you, forever- If only I could. But I’ve shown too much weakness. I’ve always been too vulnerable around you._ “It’s only a matter of time before they come back to Earth. Who knows where next. Or maybe they’ll just come back for Charlie… Or maybe you.”

_It can always get worse. If I’ve learned even one thing, it’s that it can always get worse._

“I see. So… What are you saying?” Chloe asked _. Once again, she's choosing to refuse to see what is right in front of her. I suppose there is something to what humans say about being too close to a problem._

“I have to go back.” _It’s best this way._

“So for how long? A couple weeks, a month, or…”

 _She’ll get over it if I leave now. This, she’ll understand, maybe not tonight but… It can be so much worse. I bloody well know that._ “You were right. About the prophecy, we did get it wrong.”

Chloe shook her head, denying what she knew he’d say.

“It is about Hell coming to Earth,” _Your Earth,_ “And we may have stopped in now but for how long?” _This moment, this is a good ending. As good as we’re going to get. Hell always wins in the end._ “I need to keep them contained. They must have a King.” _And I am no good for you, Chloe._

“No,” Chloe protested weakly. “No, no,” she shook her head in denial. “This is what I meant, Lucifer. When I said- You can’t leave me.”

_Please, Chloe, please don’t beg me for this._

“Look, I’m so sorry how I acted when I first saw your face. I- It was stupid and- Please don’t go. I love you.”

_I want to stay. Oh how I want to stay. But it only gets worse and worse._

“I love you! Please don’t leave me!”

“You see, we were wrong about something else in the prophecy,” _What do you need hear Chloe? If there's any truth I could offer you to ease your pain I would. But my powers have never worked on you, I'm always left guessing your desires._ “My first love was never Eve.” He cupped her face gently. “It was you Chloe. It always has been.”

And finally he gave in to temptation and closed the distance between them, kissing her and for a moment he felt her relax into him, giving herself to him. “Please, don’t go,” she whispered.

“Goodbye.” His wings spread as he stepped back. He touched her cheek one last time. “Goodbye.” _I’m sorry, my love. I'm sorry I have to hurt you once again, but please, this time, break the cycle._

* * *

“All of humanity’s sins are the Devil’s fault right?” _Not again._ “I mean I thought you knew different right? I mean I thought you knew differently but I was wrong.” _Shut up! Just shut up!_ “You’re just like all the others.” _Liar!!_ As always the longer he spoke the more expansive his movements became, raising the fear surrounding him to a fevered pitch like a master conductor. _Just stop! Please, let me stop._ “So why not add one more murder to the pile?” he couldn't stop himself from demanding.

“That’s not what this is Lucifer,” Chloe tried to talk him down.

“You wanted your bad guy! So here he is! Gift wrapped just for you!” he roared. _STOP! Before it’s too late._

“Don’t take another step,” Chloe ordered. Now, too late, much too late, he could see her eyes pleading, _‘Just once more, do what I tell you. Let me talk you down. Don’t do this Lucifer.’_

 _Why didn't I listen? Amenadiel! Stop me!_ “You there, Newbie,” he singled out a kid barely six months out of the Academy. “Come on, riddle me with bullets. So you can go home, drink a nice cold beer and feel better about yourselves!” 

“Don’t shoot him, he’s unarmed,” Chloe tried to reason with the scared kid. Tried to talk the kid down if she couldn’t reach her partner anymore.

“Oh you don’t know that,” He challenged, unable to do anything but play it out to the bitter end. “Maybe I have a gun.” Staring right into the frightened kid’s eyes, he slid his hand into his jacket.

“Hands in the air!” the kid shouted, cocking his weapon.

 _don't!_ “Do it!” he roared.

A gun cracked, and then another and another. As he fell, a bullet shattered his skull, spraying the bar behind him with brain matter. His hand fell from his jacket, limp and damningly empty.

Present but apart from the scene, Lucifer watched as Chloe screamed at the rookie. “He wasn’t armed!”

Lucifer saw the guilt and horror dawning in the kid’s eyes. He saw Chloe cradle his broken body to her chest, not caring about the blood and worse seeping into her clothes, staining her skin and hair.

The next few hours passed in a blur: Forensics arriving to process the scene.

Lucifer watched a girl he’d never noticed during the time he'd partnered with Chloe but still knew so very well try to approach Chloe, her eyes overflowing with empathy but Chloe was in no state to accept Ella's boundless kindness. _I wish I'd know more than her reflection here._

After several moments where Ella hovered, unwilling to intrude on Chloe's grief Dan came over and gently but firmly guided her away from the body. “Chloe, you have to let them do their job.” 

Like a ghost, Lucifer followed Chloe back to the precinct where she gave her statement.

“Lucifer didn’t act guilty,” Chloe told Lt. Monroe, practically ignoring the IA officers in the room. “This wasn’t about being afraid of the consequences of being found out. Lucifer was enraged at being _accused_. He thought he was being railroaded. He didn’t trust us- Me- He didn’t trust me to find out the truth.”

“Why?” Olivia asked.

“I don’t know,” Chloe said, her voice full of anguish. 

_Detective, I am so very sorry._

The discovery of the murder weapon.

“Chloe- I need to talk to you, somewhere else,” Dan said softly, guiltily.

Chloe shook her head in denial.

“You’re right, Lucifer was set up,” Dan said. His eyes darted around the station nervously. “Please Chloe.”

Chloe nodded and followed Dan out to the parking garage. An invisible spector Lucifer trailed after them as they got into Dan's car and left the precinct. "It was my key, Chloe" Dan confessed, not looking at her as he drove aimlessly. "The key we found at Palmetto, it was mine. I shot Malcolm before he could shoot you."

"You- This whole time you- While they were calling me crazy? A traitor! You knew- You saw-" Chloe stammered.

"The gun," Dan continued, shoulders hunched with guilt. "Malcolm knew it was me. He said he'd tell if I didn't steal the gun for him, that he'd take us both down if I pushed him."

"The gun that shot Jacob Williams?" Chloe's voice caught and broke. "You-"

"When Malcolm told me he was going after Lucifer I tried to stop him, Chloe I swear to you, I tried to stop him," Dan pled.

Chloe's spine straighten, her expression hardening. "What are you going to do now?" she challenged.

Dan took a deep breath, "Clear Lucifer's name."

Chloe nodded shortly. "It's not enough."

"I know," Dan said, turning his car back toward the station.

_I know you can't hear me, that I'm ghost talking to a shadow, but Daniel... Don't take this the wrong way but I hope I never see you again... I hope you forgive yourself._

Chloe watched silently, coldly as Dan confessed to the desk sergeant and was arrested.

Then, as Lucifer knew it would, the call came.

“Ahhh, poor Chloe Decker. Did someone take something from you? Something valuable?” the sneer in Malcolm’s voice made Lucifer eager to see the man again, soon. “Hurts don’t it?”

“You want your money.”

“Bulls-eye,” Malcolm mocked his Detective. “Now don’t even think about talking to the cops. Remember, you don’t know who’s with me.”

“Okay,” Chloe breathed.

“Just you, or she dies.”

“Who else do I have left?” Chloe hissed softly. “The department’s been against me since Palmetto. Dan’s under arrest. Lucifer-” her voice broke

Malcolm chuckled. “Well, there is that.”

Walking through the precinct, Chloe glanced around herself warily, clearly wondering about every co-worker she saw, wondering if they’d been in on her daughter’s kidnapping, wondering if they’d been a part of the frame, if they were another of Malcolm’s dirty cops. “Hey, um, I need the duffle bag we seized today. Where is it?” Chloe asked a Uni, to Lucifer her nervousness was obvious.

“We just sent it over to Evidence,” the officer replied easily.

“Okay, I need to examine it.”

As he led her through the precinct Olivia stopped them. “Chloe, go home,” she said kindly. “Get cleaned up.”

“Right,” Chloe replied shakily. “I just need to check this one thing. Then I’ll go.”

Olivia nodded.

Left alone in the Evidence cage, Chloe paused for a moment to open the duffle bag, then she lifted down a sniper rifle from another case and slid it inside, on top of the money. “Lucifer,” she whispered. “I hope you understand, Trixie comes first but I promise you, Malcolm won’t get away with what he did to you.”

Nothing more than a ghost, Lucifer reached out and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “Chloe, all I want is for you to be happy,” he whispered. Then he turned and left.

* * *

Lucifer slumped tiredly against a nondescript door in a narrow canyon lined with hundreds of other doors as ash rained down on him. When he heard footsteps approaching he forced himself to straighten.

A slight woman, her face half-rotted away strode confidently up to him. “Hello Mazikeen,” Lucifer sighed.

“Amenadiel’s back to bemoaning his sins,” Maze reported.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. “Lovely. I’ll just avoid him until he switches back to ranting at Dad why don’t I?” He turned his eyes towards the sky, “It wasn’t enough for You to drive me back here! You had to take his wings just when he brought Mazikeen home? Do You have any notion of how ANNOYING my older brother is?!? … Of course You do, that’s why You did it isn’t it!”

“You’re not blaming Him for?” Maze jerked a thumb at the door Lucifer had been leaning again.

Lucifer’s face creased with pain, “No, I’m afraid that... Is all on me.”

Casually Maze stretched up on her toes to peer through the small portal in the door. Her face tightened. “Looks like Decker survives this time through but the little human still dies,” she reported.

Lucifer buried his face in his hands and slid down the wall.

A trace of worry crossed Maze’s face, “Lucifer, you're the King of Hell, even if Amenadiel is being even more useless than normal you don't _have_ to let yourself die?" 

"My powers have never worked on her," Lucifer sighed.

"Then we kick Amenadiel until he gets his ass in gear and... And you could try just… I don’t know… Try having a happy life with her, white picket fence and all that shit?” she suggested. “She's _your_ miracle isn't she? Come out of her loop every few weeks to keep any usurpers in their place. She’ll never even notice you’re gone if you’re careful.”

Lucifer looked up at her, furious. “Cain, Kinley, need I say more to remind you of what happens when I try to build a future in HELL with the Detective? Even when Mother isn't running loose, something still happens. My fears, her guilt- THIS IS HELL, MAZIKEEN! I can make her forget that I died but the guilt I left her with will still bleed through. There can be no happy endings in Hell." Lucifer slammed his fist against the door behind him. "Chloe must come to realize that her guilt over my ‘death’ is misplaced and walk through this door of her own accord.”

"No one's ever done that," Maze said dubiously.

"She has to," Lucifer replied. 

For several moments silence stretched between them as ashes continued to rain down. “Next time, I’ll go in," Maze offered. "You go play with Malcolm Graham's Loop for a while, make him regret that Amenadiel ever gave him a reprieve from Hell. It’ll make you feel better. Meanwhile I’ll make sure both Decker and the little human live through that night. Maybe then she’ll come to realize it’s not her fault you're a self-destructive asshole and a moron.”

**Author's Note:**

> As much as a debacle as “Candy Morningstar” was for Deckerstar. I think the worst thing he ever did in the course of their relationship was the suicide by cop attempt from “Take me Back to Hell”. In both cases Lucifer’s upset and emotionally tone deaf as to how his actions are going to affect Chloe but during the mess with Candy, his intentions were good. He was trying to protect Chloe from his family screwing with her or threatening her. In “Take me Back to Hell” he’s hurt, angry, feeling betrayed and he lashes out in about the cruelest way possible. But even beyond Lucifer’s intentions, IMO, a bad breakup, no matter how insensitive the other person might be, up to and including leaving someone at the altar, is not as bad as forcing someone to be complicit in your suicide.
> 
> ... Tweaked the story a bit. Twist endings are a challenge and it seems like I missed the mark between not spilling the beans too early but still giving enough that the ending lands. Hopefully this works better.


End file.
